Stress Tests, Spectrum Talks, and Dell’s Huge Loss: Afternoon Buzzers

The United States equity markets are edging up on Friday. Having already held a news conference and met with business leaders this week, President Barack Obama will begin meeting with members of Congress to try to make progress against the fiscal cliff before Thanksgiving.

The Federal Reserve issued the new scenarios for the next round of stress tests. The Fed will run banks through hypothetical situations that range from bad to worse, including a GDP decline of 5 percent, a 4-percent hike in unemployment, and a 50-percent drop in the value of equities in 2013. Among the 19 banks being tested is JPMorgan Chase (NYSE:JPM), which was recently served with a cease-and-desist order from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency for alleged weakness in the bank’s ability to counter money laundering.

Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) has reportedly held talks with Dish Network (NASDAQ:DISH) about the possibility of building out its own 4G wireless network using Dish’s spectrum. Echoing Google’s Fiber initiative, the company could be looking for a way build out its technological ecosystem, controlling not just how people use the Internet, but how they access it.

Shares of Dell (NASDAQ:DELL) were off as much as 6.43 percent Friday after posting third-quarter results after the bell on Thursday. Suffering from a global decline in PC sales, revenue dropped 10.7 percent year over year to $13.7 billion, while net income fell a staggering 46.8 percent to $0.27 per share for the same period.

Gap Inc. (NYSE:GPS) pushed as much as 1.83 percent higher in the afternoon after posting third-quarter results. Revenue rose 7.8 percent year over year to $3.86 billion, while net income rose 59.6 percent to $0.63 per share for the same period.